Category Archives: Lammas

Are you having a magickal summer? I’ve worked hard on my garden, and harvested shallots, peas, and chives. Oh they taste so good. Bees visit the bee balm, astilbe, and dead nettle. I am enjoying the fruitful verdant bounty of my garden. I just came in from watering it. Ah the joy of gardening.

I hope you are all enjoying Lammas. I believe that Mabon is a little more magickal. The leaves turn those gorgeous colors, and pumpkins show up everywhere. Mabon is a good time for a harvest. Everything is still young and on the peak of harvest. My radishes are almost ready. The tomato vines are bigger and I have planted more pea seeds to extend the pea season. I can’t wait to bite into a garden grown radish. I wish the slugs would keep off!

Enjoy summer while you can. Summer is fleeting. Before you know it, September rolls around and you’ll be facing classes and midterms. Or maybe you work and dread the alarm clock for work. Three weeks before the beginning of September can fly past quick.

Are you all excited? Today marks the beginning of Lammas. Lammas is the first of the three harvest Sabbats. The Wheel of the Year turns again. The sky darkens earlier now. Fields are ripe with wheat, and gardens are ripe with vegetables, flowers, and herbs.

I shall soon reap the bounty from my garden. I have braved torrential rains and slugs to grow the peas, radishes, carrots, and shallots. Mmm I wish I could share the delicious taste of my peas from my garden. The seeds were organic. I believe that is why they are so tasty. I plan to preserve some seeds, too. My book tells me how to store seeds from over 300 plants. Good thing I have so many Mason jars.

I plan to celebrate Lammas tonight with a solitary feast. I will add what I have grown in my garden to the feast. I have chives, garlic chives, and shallots and lemon balm, bee balm, and some other culinary herbs. I would harvest the leaves of the bee balm, because the bee populations are in decline and the bees are all over the bee balm. They can’t get enough of the bee balm. Lemon balm and coneflower also grow well in my garden, but I see the bees visiting the bee balm the most. They like native brightly coloured single-petaled flowers. Bee balm attracts hummingbirds.

I am ordering organic white sage seeds, organic witch hazel seeds, and a book on how to grow and worship tulsi. I am growing organic tulsi plants, which is holy basil and is worshipped in India. The herbs are growing beautifully. I will enjoy growing and harvesting my own organic white sage plants. I will definitely be smudging with leaves from the plant. Though I often end up with more seed doing it this way, I like to begin from seed and know the seed is not poisoned with GMOs. I find I have better control and a better plant starting from seed this way. I may never buy white sage smudge sticks again, when I can create my own.

Lammas is a time of celebration and feasting. Reflect on the bounty of nature and be grateful for it. Share your celebration with friends and family. Offer a bit of your harvest to the God and Goddess as thanks for the bounty they offer and help with your gardens. Do everything you can to help bees. No bees, no plants, no harvest. So help the bees.

Today I was out in my garden, as usual. The spiders, slugs, bees, and mosquitoes visited too. After I kicked out the slugs, and braved the bites, I watched from inside as chickadees visited the feeder and bees sipped pollen from bee balm, astilble, and the sea holly. Two bees this time. There used to be more.

I am concerned about the future of the bees. I hope you all have seen the picture about the 37 million bees dying from GMOs on the blog page. I have strengthened my pledge to eat only organic food. I am so worried that if the food is not organic, I will not eat it. I will finish what I have and that is it. I have organic face wash, toothpaste, even linens. I refuse to cooperate in the unnecessary and cruel deaths of more bees. It breaks my heart to know that our poor unsung heroes are dying by the millions. We are nothing without bees.

Please read these links to be better informed about how GMO crops and food are killing the bees. Without them, we are nothing. We will not survive. Refuse to buy GMO food. Alternatives to that crap exist. Since consuming more organic food, I feel better. Be careful. Some companies are lying about what is and is not organic.

Tonight, if you celebrate Lammas, or tomorrow, ask yourself if the God and Goddess would be happy knowing that their sacred bees are being murdered. It is murder. It is beemageddon, it is beecide. It is unthinkable and should be unacceptable. Taking a lukewarm, apathetic attitude is not going to save the bees. We need to act bravely and now. A dystopian society is where we are all headed, if we allow it to be so. Monsanto does not care about the bees’ fate. They produce cheap, plastic food that contains no nutrients.

I dread our future. I went to a food bank and when I came home, I had lots of houseflies in the house. I smudged the house with sage, donated the processed food back to the food bank, and they are gone. It was the negative energy they are attracted to. Please act and make conscious decisions on what you purchase from the stores. The bees will thank you.

Lammas is almost here! Lammas is a harvest Sabbat and precludes Mabon and Samhain. Though the earth still appears green and lush with life, we know that soon summer nears its end. Lammas is also called Lughnasadh, in honor of the Celtic god Lugh.

Lugh was a god of craftmanship and skills. He arrived at Tara but when he said that he possessed many skills at once, he was admitted entry. Lammas can be the perfect time to invoke him and to thank him for the many talents you possess. You can setup an altar to honor Lugh at Lammas. Use a candle that corresponds with the autumn colors. Chant or invoke the god Lugh with a prayer. Say aloud:

Lugh, of the many skills,blessed one, Shine your gifts upon me, and make mestrong in my skills.

Now make an offering to Lugh. It can be something you crafted, a song you wrote, or a poem. Or it can be fruits or wine. The gift should come from the heart.

Dress your altar in corresponding colors and theme to the Sabbat of Lugh. Try oranges, reds, beige, gold or brown. Use candles in similar colors. Clean out the candleholders and dust off your censers. Reflect on your skills and talents and how your skills have helped in what you have accomplished in the last year.

The Full Moon approaches!! The Full Moon shines on Lammas/ Lughnasadh. This is a special auspicious time. Full Moon and Lammas together. I encourage you all to take advantage of this turn in the Wheel of the Year and the moon’s waxing energy.

Lammas is the First Harvest sabbat. On August 5th, the Celtic Tree month of Hazel begins. The Sun reaches fifteen degrees Leo on August 7th. It is Lammas cross-quarter day. Lammas is a time of harvest and the sacrifice of the god Lugh to ensure the success of the harvest. Apples, wheat, oats and grains, and corn are harvested at this time of year. The god Lugh is honored at this time of year.

The word Lammas from the Old English phrase hlaf-masse, which means loaf mass. Lugh was a god of many skills, a Celtic craftsman god. He was the patron of bards and magicians. Lugh was called sam ildinach, which meant he had many skills. In one legend, he arrived at the hall of Tara, the hall of the high kings of Ireland. The guard at the door told him they would admit only one person with a special skill- one blacksmith, one wheelwright, one bard, etc. Lugh possessed all those skills at once. Each time the guard refused him. Lugh asked the guard if the guard would admit one who possessed those skills at the same time and finally, the guard admitted him entrance to Tara.

Lugh was a skilled warrior. His weapons were a mighty magical spear. In battles, the spear tried to fight on its own and flashed fire, tearing through the enemy lines unchecked. The Celts regarded war as a way of life, and smiths were special too. The smith is called Goibhnui. The Celts loved the number three. Everything was in threes, and so it was that there were three craftsmen who created a triple-god form. The 3 craftsmen created enough weaponry for an entire army- the Tuatha De Danann’s battle from the mighty Formorians.

To honor Lugh/ Lughnasadh, place sickles and scythes upon your altar as well as sheafs of grain, fresh picked fruit, and loaves of bread for your Lammastide altar. Or place symbols of your own creative achievements. Grapes of wine, handmade corn dolls, ears of corn, fall flowers, straw braids or onion garlands. Put a statue of Lugh on your altar and pray to acknowledge what you have achieved or learned since the last Lammas. Share a harvest ritual with your coven or family. Put together a Lammas cornucopia, make an apple candleholder, or a cornhusk chain. Use your imagination. You can get more ideas from about.com for ways to celebrate and honor Lammas.